Statistics reveal that potential passengers were unable to access the tube for the equivalent of two-and-a-half months on 1,658 separate occasions.
The figures cover from January 2019 until the end of April 2022.
Kentish Town was shut to the public for the longest stretch of time, amounting to 112 hours, or nearly five days, from 17 individual closures. Fulham Broadway closed 18 times resulting in 79 hours, or more than three days. Northwick Park was inaccessible for 40 hours. Ruislip Manor and Regents Park both had closures amounting to 36 hours. Turnpike Lane closed for 32 hours and Stepney Green for 31 hours. Some 13 stations were closed for more than a day.
A total of 1,045 closures at 132 of London’s 272 Underground stations between January 2019 and April 2022 were due to staff shortages, of which 765 were categorised as being due to COVID-19. While 248 Underground stations experienced station closures due to reasons other than staff shortages and COVID-19. In 2021 there was a rise, with 590 closures mainly due to an increase in stations infrastructure incidents (215) and customer-related incidents (143) on the network.
| Stations closed for more than 24 hours |
| Kentish Town – 112 hours |
| Fulham Broadway – 79 hours |
| Northwick Park – 40 hours |
| Ruislip Manor – 36 hours |
| Regents Park – 36 hours |
| Turnpike Lane – 32 hours |
| Stepney Green – 31 hours |
| Wood Green – 30 hours |
| Walthamstow Central – 29 hours |
| Maida Vale – 28 hours |
| Tufnell Park – 28 hours |
| Borough – 26 hours |
| Oval – 24 hours |
| Selected others |
| Stockwell – 23 hours |
| Chancery Lane – 23 hours |
| Marble Arch – 22 hours |
| Holloway Road – 22 hours |
| Marylebone – 21 hours |
| Holborn – 20 hours |
| Kings Cross – 20 hours |
| Bond Street – 20 hours |
| Heathrow Terminal 4 – 19 hours |
| Heathrow Terminal 5 – 19 hours |
| Archway – 19 hours |
| Oxford Circus – 18 hours |
| Whitechapel – 18 hours |
The figures were obtained by Labour London Assembly Member, Elly Baker AM, through a written question.
Baker praised TfL workers and said this data pressed the need for a long-term funding deal. Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said that in order for this to happen, the relationship between himself and the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, would need a “reset”.
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